Mr Farage later “clarified” his statement to explain that migrants already living in the EU would have the right to stay. The Ukip leader stressed: "To be clear - anybody who has legally come to Britain is entitled to stay in Britain."

Mr Reckless’s comments provoked a storm of contention and saw the ‘Beast of Bolsover’ Dennis Skinner take Ukip to task just moments after Mr Reckless was sworn into Parliament.

Speaking to The Times, Mr Reckless suggested Mr Farage had altered his stance on immigration after the controversy surrounding EU migrant policy broke.

In pictures: The rise of Ukip

In pictures: The rise of Ukip

1/8
1993: Alan Sked forms Ukip

History professor Alan Sked had been active in anti-EU politics for a while beore he founded Ukip in 1993. He resigned from the party after the 1997 election, concerned that it was attracting far-right members, and has been critical of Ukip since. Picture: Reuters

Reuters

2/8
2005: Kilroy defects

Former TV presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk founded Veritas in 2005, after a failed bid to become leader, and took many of Ukip's elected members with him. But the party slowly lost its popularity and didn't put forward any candidates in the last election. Picture: REUTERS/Kieran Doherty REUTERS KD/RUS

3/8
2010: Farage becomes leader, again

Farage had led Ukip from 2006 until 2009, when he stood down to fight against the Speaker, John Bercow, for his Buckingham seat. He failed to win the election and returned to lead the party in November 2010. Picture: REUTERS/Kieran Doherty

REUTERS/Kieran Doherty

4/8
2010: Ukip fights for election

Nigel Farage was injured in a plane crash on polling day in the 2010 general election, but his party increased its success in the votes. It fielded 572 candidates and took 3.1% of the vote, though failed to win any seats. REUTERS/Darren Staples

REUTERS/Darren Staples

5/8
2013: Eastleigh gains

Ukip's candidate Diane James got the highest ever number of votes for any candidate from the party, but was beaten by the Liberal Democrats. The surge in support gave Ukip confidence ahead of local and European elections later in the year. Picture: Reuters

6/8
2013: Bloom kicked out

Godfrey Bloom, who served as an Ukip MEP from 2004 to 2014, had the whip withdrawn in 2013 after sexist comments and an attack on a journalist. He sat as an independent MEP until 2014, when he ended his term in office. Picture: REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

7/8
2014: European election success

Ukip got a higher proportion of the vote than any other party in 2014's European elections, adding 11 new MEPs and taking its total to 24. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

8/8
2014: Carswell defects

Douglas Carswell defected from Ukip at the end of August, and was followed by Mark Reckless at the end of September, who resigned from the Tories amid rumours of many more defections to come. Picture: REUTERS/Toby Melville

He said: "Until Nigel changed it on Wednesday, the policy of the party was everyone can stay for the transitional period, no doubt about that, that there would then be a permanent arrangement which would be part of the EU negotiation."

“The policy changed on Wednesday and I'm a bit sore about how I came out of that, because I don’t actually think I said I was only talking about welcoming people of particular circumstances.

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In an apparent U-turn, Mr Reckless claimed he had disagreed with the idea that EU migrants already living in the UK could have to leave.

"I've always thought we should allow people to stay permanently regardless, because that's the right thing to do by them and it's also the right thing for our party in terms of how we want to look to the country."

Mr Reckless had on Tuesday said EU migrants who had resided in the UK for long periods of time would be considered "sympathetically", but others could be told to leave after the transitional period.

His remarks, during an ITV debate in the constituency, were challenged by the Labour candidate, Naushabah Khan.

“Where would you stop, Mark? My family are migrants, are we going to say they need to go back as well?” she asked.